Wolverton: TV industry puts its hope in curves and pretty screens

By Troy Wolverton Mercury News Columnist

Posted:
01/06/2014 05:11:13 PM PST

Updated:
01/06/2014 06:04:59 PM PST

LAS VEGAS -- For the television industry, 4K and curved are the new 3-D and smart. Faced with sluggish sales, TV makers at the Consumer Electronics Show here are touting new, rounded screens and ultrahigh-resolution displays. The hope? That these new features will prove a bigger draw than 3-D viewing and the ability to run apps were for televisions of the recent past.

Monday was "Press Day" at CES, traditionally the day when the big electronics manufacturers hawk their new TV sets. This year was no exception, as LG, Sharp, Panasonic and Samsung showcased their new TVs. Sony was expected to do so also at an event later in the day.

What was striking was the degree to which the industry's hype machine has glommed on to 4K, which offers viewers ultrasharp images by having four times the resolution of high-definition sets, as a new technology that they hope will spur sales.

Samsung, for example, brought out Internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban and Hollywood director Michael Bay to tout its 4K efforts, though Bay left the stage early after his teleprompter apparently malfunctioned. LG brought Netflix (NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings onstage to talk about how his company will stream 4K videos -- including its "House of Cards" show -- to LG televisions. And Sharp introduced a new line of televisions that's supposed to serve as a bridge to 4K technology, offering higher-resolution screens than standard HD televisions that can display 4K videos, but at a significantly lower cost than full 4K televisions.

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The manufacturers sought to quiet concerns that there's little 4K content available. Samsung touted the ability of its televisions to "upscale" standard high-definition content to make it appear as if it were actually ultrahigh definition. It also announced that it will offer a "pack" of pre-loaded 4K movies for consumers and will offer streaming video options from sources such as Amazon.com.

It all sounded so exciting and enticing that it might have made me want to run out and buy a 4K TV today -- if I hadn't already seen this picture before.

Only a few years ago, similar hoopla surrounded 3-D viewing. Manufacturers insisted that 3-D was the next big thing in TVs, and consumers, inspired by a flood of new 3-D movies at theaters, were gong to snap up 3-D TVs.

But it never happened. The number of 3-D TVs sold steadily increased, but not enough to revive TV sales, which plunged in 2012 and increased only marginally last year.

3-D was plagued by problems, including the silly glasses viewers must wear to get the 3-D viewing experience. You don't need to wear glasses to see the extra sharp images that come with 4K, but it has problems of its own that resemble the ones 3-D faced.

For now, 4k is a pricey add-on to regular TVs, and there's little 4K content available. None of the major networks broadcast in 4K, and cable delivery of 4K television is still in the testing stage. While you can get some 4K video streamed from Netflix, those videos require faster broadband speeds than most Americans have in their home.

And 4K has one problem that 3-D doesn't face -- it only really makes a difference on screens of about 50 inches and larger. On smaller sets, the extra pixels you get with 4K, at least seen from typically viewing distances, are superfluous. While television sets are getting larger, the average set sold is still about 46 inches, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, making 4K irrelevant for most consumers.

But the television industry isn't placing all of its bets on 4K. It's also trying to boost sales with new, curved screens.

Instead of being flat, the displays on these sets are literally rounded into an arc. Duplicating the viewing experience consumers get at an IMAX movie theater, the curved screens are supposed to offer a more immersive experience with a much greater sensation of depth.

For now, LG and Samsung seem to be the biggest proponents of curved sets. LG showed off a jumbo-sized 105-inch curved set, while Samsung announced six curved models and demonstrated a prototype of a "bendable" model with a screen that could change from being completely flat to curved based on users' preferences.

My first take on the curved sets is that they do offer a more immersive experience -- but only if you are looking at them nearly straight on. If you view them from an angle, you end up seeing a smaller, more compact picture than you would on a flat screen.

It's possible the new technologies will boost the industry. Consumers have in the past embraced both the idea of enhanced picture quality and innovative designs; the combination of flat-screen technology and high-definition pictures helped to drive the boom in television sales in the mid 2000s.

But for now both new technologies look like they'll more likely end up being features consumers expect to get when it's time to buy a new set, rather than ones that will spur them to pay extra or to buy a new set right away.

Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285 or twolverton@mercurynews.com. Follow him at www.mercurynews.com/troy-wolverton or Twitter.com/troywolv.